Group play is complete, unfortunately – wish it lasted another fortnight – and it’s on to the knockouts: Two games per day for four days, starting Saturday with Brazil-Chile and concluding Tuesday with Belgium-United States.

We’ll take the occasion of today’s peace and quiet to rank the 16 survivors. Please note: The following is not a projection of the eventual outcome (although you could do worse than picking the team listed No. 1).

16. Nigeria: Played in a weak group and backed into knockout rounds.
Next: France.

Portugal’s star robbed the United States of a spot in the knockout round last weekend with his masterful cross on the game-tying, stoppage-time goal.

But on Thursday, CR7’s essentially secured the USMNT’s spot in the knockouts: His goal in the 80th minute against Ghana provided the crucial group point/tiebreaker advantage for the United States in the event of a loss to Germany.

*** It was clear from the start that Germany was playing to win. Even though the U.S. stood its ground for most of the first half, you never sensed Germany was on its heels.

Loser: Luis Suarez. Took a bite (allegedly!) out of Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini. It’s not the first time Suarez has gone all Mike Tyson and probably won’t be the last.

Loser: Former champs. Only eight countries have won the Cup, and three of them are already out: Italy, Spain and England.

We’re not at a natural break in the schedule, with the third leg of Group play underway and the knockout stage beginning Saturday. But this is essentially the tournament’s midway point — the 13th of 25 match days — and feels like a good time to assess the action thus far.

If you take exception to the timing of this post, that’s fair. Give us a yellow and play on!

The biggest winner, thus far and by far, is the World Cup itself.

The matches have been thrilling, with loads of late drama, plenty of goals and the fabulous marriage of the two: late goals.

Sure, it helps that the United States has been more than competitive and that the relatively minimal time zone difference (PDT +4) makes live viewing meaningful for hardcore and casual fans alike.

It also helps that there has been a paucity of evidence available for soccer critics — flopping has been moderate and egregious officiating limited.

* As intense as you’d expect for an elimination match. Credit Mexico for playing to win when it only needed a tie.

Then again, playing for a tie is the surest way to leave with a loss.

* Mexico missed two chances in the initial 20 minutes (Hector Herrera off the crossbar and Oribe Peralta’s slip) and was on the wrong end of two major officiating errors: The hand balls on Croatia that weren’t called.

Add the two disallowed goals against Cameroon, and El Tri had more than its share of poor luck with the refs in group play.

The world player of the year was ineffective for 94 minutes against the United States but masterful for a single strike of the ball, and that was enough to deny the U.S. a victory and spot in the knockout rounds.

Or as Landon Donovan might be thinking: Told you so (unfortunately).

Watching Ronaldo’s pinpoint pass on the game-tying header, I couldn’t help but think of Donovan’s comment in April during an interview with ESPNFC.

Speaking of Ronaldo, Donovan said:

He’s a special player and a special talent. We could play an amazing game against Portugal, and he could pull off two plays that only he can pull off, and we could end up losing.

* Uruguay’s Luis Suarez was playing his first game since mid-May knee surgery. The way England defended him … the way England avoided him … you’d have thought the master striker was currently suffering from ebola.

One central defender, Phil Jagielka, lost Suarez on a first-half header.

Both central defenders, Jagielka and Gary Cahill, lost him on a long goal kick and advanced ball.

From Manaus to Rio and all relevant points in between, thoughts on the opening weekend …

Best goal: Who else but RvP?

Nobody can top Robin van Persie’s amazing, stunning, flying header.

The goal was all the more impressive when you consider van Persie never looked at the goalkeeper, or the goal, or the field — instinctively, he knew exactly where he was and where he had to place the ball.

The guess here is that when all is said and done and a champion is crowned, van Persie’s goal will stand as the best of ‘em all.